Traditional broadcast cable systems have used television as a passive device, that only allows a viewer to control the volume and channel, while reserving control of the content as well as the presentation time and format for the cable operator. In recent years, a number of interactive systems have been created, in order to enable viewers to use their televisions as interactive devices.
Specifically, with the advent of interactive services in the home entertainment field, televisions have become active devices, that allow their viewers greater flexibility and control over the content, the presentation time, and the presentation format of their selected interactive applications. Interactive applications are stored programs, whose operations are wholly or partly controlled by commands from local viewing nodes of the interactive system.
Interactive systems utilize a mix of broadcast and point-to-point communication modes. In particular, interactive systems transmit shared, one-way, broadcast digital information streams to all their subscribers, in order to provide cable and network programming to their subscribers. These systems also utilize a number of dedicated, two-way communication paths to (1) provide interactive applications from a central service source to a local viewing node, and (2) relay commands from the local viewing node to the central service. In addition, some interactive systems transmit interactive applications through shared information streams.
Establishing a dedicated communication link expends a certain amount of an interactive system""s resources (such as a service source""s server resources, a communication network""s transmission frequency, a service source""s switching resources, etc.). Consequently, due to financial considerations, efficient interactive systems are often designed to handle specified peak dedicated-path-usage rates, which are computed by using statistics and probability.
In turn, the dedicated-path-usage rate design at times reduces the speed for executing commands pertaining to interactive selections. In other words, the peak rate design introduces latency in processing some of the interactive operations. In addition, some interactive commands inherently have latency associated with them, because their execution is dependent on services external to the interactive television network. For example, orders for purchasing products with credit cards experience latency due to the credit card confirmation operation, which is performed external to the interactive network.
When interactive television systems experience latency, they must provide entertaining presentations to mask the latency, because these systems are oriented towards entertainment, and therefore must not be static in nature. Consequently, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for masking latency in an interactive television network.
The invention provides a method and apparatus for masking latency in an interactive television network. One embodiment of the invention initially receives a command pertaining to an interactive selection from a viewer. The invention then determines if latency is associated with the execution of the received command. If so, the invention presents a latency-masking presentation.